5th grade winter landscapes with a twist

My fifth grade students created beautiful winter landscapes while learning about the element of value, tints and shades, and monochromatic art. After seeing the success of using the sketchbook express app with fourth grade (see my earlier post found here ), I decided we should do something similar with the 5th graders. This time, I has them take a picture of themselves and put it in their winter landscapes.

Again, we had way too much fun with this app! 

All fifth grade artwork from this lesson can be found on my Flickr account. 

4th grade iPad Photo Manipulation

After the fourth grade students finished their animal paintings inspired by Blue Dog (find that post here ), students were introduced to the Sketchbook Express app on the iPad.  The assignment was to first take a picture of their finished artwork and using the app, erase everything but the head of their animal. They then transformed that image onto a photo of themselves. Finally, I had them erase everything but themselves and choose a new background. The results were so fun!

We had a blast during this lesson!!

All 4th grade images can be found on my Flickr site. Enjoy!

Xin Nian Kuai Lei! Gung Huy Fat Choi! (Happy Chinese New Year!)

Chinese New Year is one of the units of study I look forward to every winter not just because the student's make such beautiful art, but also because they all get incredibly excited to celebrate this holiday!

Display outside the Art Room

To prepare, we read books on Chinese New Year:

We learn about the Story of Chinese New Year:

We watch Dragon Dances from Hong Kong

We are also very lucky at our school to have a teacher who has been to China many times and speaks fluent Mandarin.  He is our music teacher, and he shares with us plenty of information on China and artifacts to show the students. He also introduces the students to Chinese music and musical instruments.

Left to Right: Plum Blossom Painted Art, Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses, a Red Lantern and carved Jade Stone. 

We learn about the endangered Giant Panda Bears that are from China and watch the Panda Cam at the San Diego Zoo.  Sometimes we are lucky enough to catch a panda eating bamboo!

We discover our Animal Sign from the Chinese Zodiac

And on Chinese New Year Day, we wear the color red for good luck, and try to use chopsticks to eat our lunch!

This year, students in grades Pre-K to 3rd grade created artwork displayed in time for this special holiday.

Pre-K students made Giant Panda Bears with paper and crayons.

Second grade students created Chinese Lanterns, decorating them with Chinese characters, Chinese zodiac animals, or other images associated with Chinese New Year.

Kindergarten students helped create our own Chinese Dragon, that once finished hung from the ceiling by the main office to welcome all visitors to our school!

First grade students learned how to draw a sheep and how to write "Sheep" in Chinese Characters.

Third grade students created Plum blossom paintings, after discovering that the Plum Blossoms are a sign of courage and hope and begin to bloom during Chinese New Year.

This morning, Mr. Scott said the morning announcements in Mandarin.  The look on the students' faces was priceless!! They couldn't believe that the person talking was our very own music teacher, Mr. Scott!  

I am very fortunate to have supportive administration, collaborative effort with music, and excited classroom teachers and support staff to help make this an event for the entire school.